Tough Early-Game Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Boss Is Well Worth The Pain

For players just getting started in , one of the first optional bosses in the DLC can give very useful rewards — but not everyone might be able to beat it right away. Adding new weapons, armor, spells, and talismans, gives players plenty of new tools to use in their journey through the Land of Shadow, expanding heavily on the base game's already-expansive arsenal. And, considering the DLC's crushing difficulty, making good use of these tools may turn out to be vital for most players to find success.

[Warning: Spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.]

Although has only been out for a short time, its difficulty has already become a point of contention, with even some longtime fans of the series finding that, for them, the difficulty of 's DLC crosses the line into unfair territory. Even bosses that can be found early in the DLC have been compared to some of the hardest enemies that the base game has to offer, up to even the likes of Malenia. But for players willing to stick it out, some bosses can give extremely valuable rewards.

An early, optional boss, the Blackgaol Knight, gives players some of the best armor in the game, and for many players, will probably be the first boss they encounter. The Blackgaol Knight can be found in the Western Nameless Mausoleum at the west end of the Gravesite Plain, making it easily accessible right at the start of the DLC, and drops the Solitude armor set as well as the Greatsword of Solitude . The armor, in particular, boasts some of the highest damage negation stats in the game — but beating the boss to get it is easier said than done.

The Blackgaol Knight and the equipment that it drops are very likely to be a reference to Guts from, a manga which has often been cited as a heavy inspiration for the series, and which many of the games, including base, also indirectly reference.

Although the Blackgaol Knight is completely optional, many players, like Arron_TK on X (formerly Twitter), are still finding it to be a tough